Ben-Witch-Hunter by Choice
by ScarletWitchHuntress
Summary: Ben was desperate to join Hansel and Gretel in the witch hunt, but not just due to admiration. This story shows how Ben ended up being the person he was in the movie. Rated T for later chapters.
1. Introduction

Ben`s father had left him, his mother and his older brother Tom before he had even been born. So it happened that Ben grew up with only his mother and brother as guidance. Nevertheless they were a happy little family, even though they merely scraped by, living in one of the poorer areas of Augsburg.

His mother was a very warm and gentle woman, who cared not only for her two little boys but also helped wherever she could, often without asking something in return. She would, unlike other mothers, never be caught beating her children, because she had experienced what damage this could inflict on them. Although she never talked about it, a scar on her face showed everyone that she had been badly mistreated some time in her life. When her children asked her about it, though, she replied that she had cut herself on a branch while climbing, and, not knowing any better, they believed her.

Tom, who was two years older than Ben was quite a courageous boy who loved getting into all sorts of mischief and adventure. He loved Ben dearly and was excited to be an older brother, and enthusiastically embraced the task of teaching Ben all the things a boy does and does not do. As soon as Ben was old enough Tom would teach him how to climb trees, how to fish and later even how to shoot and fight. They got along very well and barely ever really fought.

Ben loved and admired his brother and always tried hard to impress him, which he generally managed. However, he was not only as courageous and adventurous as his brother, but had also inherited his mother`s caring and helping personality. He loved learning how to handle the household duties from his mother just as much as he liked learning all the boy-stuff from his brother and also helped her caring for their neighbors. Additionally, he was very clever, learning quickly and coming up with ideas for new games or ways to ease the everyday work. Of course, this inventiveness was sometimes used to plan some mischief, too, and on some days his ideas just would not work out, but he never let that get him down. He was determined, although he also could be quite shy at times.

All in all, Ben lived a happy life, without his father, but with a loving mother and a proud brother. No one could have foreseen the tragedy that was soon to come and change the life of this young boy.


	2. A summer's day

It was a mild summer`s day and the streets were full of playing children, only little 8-year-old Ben was not among them. A week ago he had climbed a very high and old tree as a dare. Unfortunately, one of the branches he stepped on broke and he fell to the ground, spraining his ankle. Tom had half-carried him back home, which, luckily, was not too far away. His mother had tended to his ankle immediately but nevertheless he had to stay at home for some weeks. When Ben learned this, it had quite a bad effect on him, as he spent quite a while outside. This time, not even Tom could cheer him up, because, even though Tom pitied his little brother, he was far too restless to stay in the house all day. Every morning Tom would go outside on some adventure and come back in the evening. Ben could not even hold it against him, as he knew that Tom soon would have to start an apprenticeship soon, so it was only natural to him, that he tried to enjoy himself as much as possible now.

This summer day it had been the same. Tom had left, barely having finished his meagre breakfast, eager to throw himself into some adventure with the other boys. Ben had watched his brother leave with a sad look on his face. How he wished that he could go, too. Instead he would listen to his brother`s stories of what he had experienced through the day and try to reduce the boredom in his own day. His mother smiled faintly when she saw her youngest son frowning. He always was so impatient and restless, but she knew the remedy to that frown: Give him something to do. "It will be only two more weeks until you can run off with the boys again. In the meantime you could come over, sit here at the table and help me fold the laundry. That way the day will pass quicker." With a half-hearted smile Ben hobbled over to the table and sat down. Usually he loved helping his mother, but after 2 weeks of confinement in the house he longed for nothing more than fresh air on his face and some fun. His mother entered, carrying a huge pile of laundry. "How can this be all ours?" asked Ben, looking at the pile. This would surely keep him occupied for a while. "Oh, it is not. I washed the Klein`s things, because they just had a new baby and already have more than enough to do with their children." He remembered the Klein family; they lived only two houses away from them and already had five children, additionally to the new baby. He liked the children, especially the eldest boy, who was a year older than him, but was afraid of the father, as he often returned home drunk, yelling at and hitting everyone and everything that dared to cross his way.

Folding the laundry took quite some time and when his mother left to bring it over to the neighbors, Ben reclaimed his old seat at the window and stared outside, dreaming. When he grew up he would not be found learning one of those common jobs. He wanted to travel, to invent things and, in a way, help the people, not only to take their money. He would never settle down and have children; girls were quite stupid, gross and boring anyway. They would play with their dolls and never do anything fun, like climbing or play-fighting. No, he would definitely never marry and never fall in love, either.

When Ben`s mother returned, she found him fast asleep, with his head sunken on his chest. She spread a thin sheet over him and smilingly kissed his head before going out again to get water and start doing the soup for dinner.

Ben woke up, wondering how long he had slept. He looked over to the fireplace where his mother was stirring their food in a pot. "Has Tom come back, yet?" His mother startled. "Hey, had a nice sleep? No, he is not back yet, but he should be any minute." Ben hobbled over to the washing basin to wash his hands before dinner and sat down at the table. "I wonder where Tom is staying… The food is ready, so I suggest we already eat something." Said his mother and filled their bowls, before seating herself at the table with her son. They ate but Tom had not reappeared yet. Ben and his mother both started to worry, so latter decided to go over to the Becker family to see, whether their son, with whom Tom had wanted to go out today, had already returned. Meanwhile, Ben started looking out of the window into the darkening streets, growing more and more restless. He knew what the parents told their children: If they stayed away after dark, witches would come and get them. Of course, he himself had never had an encounter with one, but he also knew that some women, whom he could barely believe to be witches, as they did not look evil in any way, were burned as witches. So, after a while he started wondering, whether witches were real, or whether they were simply a story to scare the children. But how could it be explained then, that children disappeared without any trace sometimes?

Ben's mother returned, even more worried than before. "I was at the Becker`s, Gerd has been back for over an hour, he came back alone, because Tom was nowhere to be seen. He thought he might already have gone home, so he just went alone and did not say anything. His father and some of the other men are going out to look for Tom, maybe he fell and hit his head." Ben could see that this was not what his mother really was worried about, but was too scared to say out loud, what might have happened to his brother: That he had been kidnapped and killed by witches.


	3. A very long night

This night neither Ben nor his mother slept. They were huddled closely together, consoling each other and trying not to think of what might have happened to Tom. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Her face both displaying hope and fear, Ben's mother got up and hurried to the door. It was Mr. Meyer, another neighbor and one of the men from the search-party. He talked for a few minutes in a quiet voice. Ben did not understand what he was saying, but could see his mother nod from time to time. Before he left, Mr. Meyer gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Tom is dead, am I right, Mama?" Ben asked, trying to suppress the tears that started welling up. The woman turned around, wearing a half-hearted smile, but one could see, that her son had voiced her thoughts. "That is not proved, yet. Mr. Meyer only told me that they were not yet able to find your brother in the dark and that they will continue searching by the break of dawn. So don't give him up yet, honey. ". She came over and held him tight. "Don't worry, Ben, I am sure we will get Tom back. Try to catch some sleep now, so you will be awake to welcome him home." Although he was only 8 years old, he knew that his mother said this more to convince herself than to convince him. Not long after this he fell asleep and every time he woke he found his mother sitting at his bed or pacing the room until he finally woke up and the sun had begun to rise.

The morning dragged along and Ben had reclaimed his seat at the window, just like the day before. He stared outside, so he would see, if there was anyone coming to their house. He thought of his brother, what might have happened to him and what a chance there was he would ever see him again. He was thrown out of his thoughts when there was another knock on the door. His mother hurried to open it and clasped a hand in front of her mouth. Ben did not believe his eyes. There in the doorway stood his brother, looking quite bruised and dirty but alive. In a rush of joy Ben forgot his ankle and tried to run the few steps towards his brother. Of course, this did not work and he fell on the floor.

Their mother closed the door after thanking the men who had brought her eldest son home and locked Tom in a long and tight embrace, before she went off to prepare a bath for him. Tom had plunged into a chair, looking tired. Soon Ben sat by him. "Are you alright? I was so worried, and Mama was too, I thought I would never see you again." Ben blurted out, the tears he had held back during the night, now streaming freely down his cheeks. Tom looked at him, confused. "I… I don't remember. I…I was playing hide and seek with the boys down by the meadow and the next thing I know is that I am waking up in the forest and my head hurts and my knife was gone and then I see Mr. Meyer and some other men nearby, so I called for them. And then they brought me back here." Ben looked alarmed. "So you don't even know how you got there?" Tom shook his head. "No, as I said… I was playing and then I was in the forest." Before Ben could inquire more about what had happened to his brother, his mother called and Tom left to take a bath, leaving Ben to his thoughts again. How did Tom get into the forest, why was he unable to remember anything? Why was his knife missing? He had heard about people forgetting things after hitting their heads hard, but he felt that this was not the answer. Maybe Tom had fought something or someone? Ben decided to keep an eye on his brother for the next few days, to see whether he could realize something unusual about him.


	4. Effects

Even though it had been over two weeks since Tom had been missing, Ben woke up several times at night and checked whether his brother was still there. Sometimes he even found their mother sitting on a chair at the end of one of their beds, sleeping. She had been far more protective after the incident, which was quite understandable. Neither Tom nor Ben were allowed to leave the town, not even when they were accompanied by other children, and they always had to be back before dark.

Tom, however, did not even want to go outside anyway; since that night, of which he still claims to remember nothing, he was not himself anymore, as Ben would put it. He had watched his brother closely for every day, tried to talk to him and play with him, but Tom never said very much and just blankly stared out of the window for the whole day, except for mealtimes, but even there he did not eat with as much appetite as before. Their mother let a doctor come to examine Tom, but he could not help very much either, he only reassured her that Tom would be alright, once the shock had worn off. Even a month later there was not much improvement, though, and Ben wondered, whether he would ever really get his brother back.

Then, one day, another child went missing, a 7 year old girl this time. She had been sent to bring food to her father and brother, who were helping on a field outside of town, but she did not return home after that. The search went on for two weeks until it was declared that she would probably be dead by now, killed by a wolf, a bear or another wild creature that lurked in the forest. The whole town felt sorry for the family and they and the little girl were included in every prayer during church.

Ben, however, did not think that the little girl had become the victim of an animal. Although he did not dare to voice his thoughts, he was pretty sure that she had been kidnapped by witches and that his brother had been attacked by one, too. He theorized that the witch must have put a curse on Tom, which would explain the lack of improvement in his recovery. On the other hand, he was not sure how his brother, or anyone for that matter, could ever escape a witch. He had never met one before and was not fond of ever meeting one, but he had heard tales that they were very powerful and that no one, no matter how strong that person was, could survive an encounter with a witch, if she did not have a reason for letting them. But what reason would a witch have to let his brother live? This was the only thing about his theory that Ben could not make sense of.


	5. Rumours

The disappearance of the little girl had only been the beginning. Over the following weeks more children disappeared. All the remaining children were now kept inside the house by their parents, but that did not stop the disappearances, either. Rumours spread, about witch sightings near the forest, and soon enough everyone believed that those witches must have stolen their children. How else could they vanish unnoticed from their beds? The harvest had been quite poor, too, due to a hailstorm, and many people would probably not make it during the winter, due to lack of food. Was this also the doing of a witch? Fear was everywhere in the town at that time, no one trusted anyone and many women were captured and burned or drowned without being given a fair trial.

Meanwhile Tom did not seem to recover at all; in fact he rather seemed to be getting worse again. He ate even less than before, did not react when he was spoken to and started having bad dreams at night. Ben barely slept those nights either, he was waking up almost every hour, because Tom was threshing around in his bed, muttering. Ben always tried to comfort him by patting his head and talking to him in a soothing voice, just like Tom had done with him when he was younger and had a nightmare.

Their mother also had sent for a doctor, who could live with them and keep an eye on Tom. He was accompanied by a girl with strawberry-blonde hair, about eleven years old. She had been living at the orphanage before, but when the doctor had been called there to help with a sick child he had found that this girl was quite useful and therefore took her on as his assistant. Secretly, he taught her everything he knew, as she was quite intelligent, very eager to learn and seemed to have a natural talent for healing. No one ever mentioned it though, especially not during a time in which women were tied to a stake and burned on a regular basis.

Ben quickly befriended the girl, whose name was Mina, and found a great conversational partner in the doctor. Even though they got along quite well, he still missed the good old times he had shared with his brother and wondered if those times would ever come back; it seemed so unlikely. He started searching through the newspapers for some new hints about what might be going on, but he did not find anything that was really interesting.

Then one day a woman came into town, dressed in a sleek black dress and a black cloak. She did not say a name, but she wanted to talk to the sheriff and claimed to have some information about the missing children and the witch that was responsible for their abduction and the bad harvest. Later that day an assembly in front of the sheriff's court was announced.

Ben and Mina both begged to go, but they were to stay at home with Tom and Ben's mother, while the doctor went to hear what the sheriff and the mayor had to say. He came back wearing a very thoughtful and rather unhappy expression but would not tell the children what had been talked about at the assembly. They found out, though, when he told it to Ben and Tom's mother, when they thought that the children were asleep. Apparently, the woman had told the sheriff that a woman named Adrianna, who lived with her husband on a small farm outside the town, was an evil witch, who had cursed their harvest and taken their children. The citizens were now planning to march to her home two days later and burn her, and the sheriff even gave the permission to kill her husband, as the woman had said that he was possessed by the devil.


	6. Gone

Ben had trouble falling asleep after hearing those news. What if the woman and her husband were innocent, just like the other women that had been burned? Did they have children themselves? What would happen to them? Would they burn, too? And what if they really were responsible for the bad harvest and the missing children? Would they find the children alive or would they be dead? Would they find anything at all? After all, he had heard that witches eat children. All these questions kept running through Ben's head while he tossed from side to side in his bed.

He had just managed to doze off, when he heard someone moving in the room. Looking up, he saw that Tom was walking to the door. Ben called him, but he would not react, he kept walking through the living room and out of the front door. He ran after him, trying to get him to walk back into the house, but Tom kept on walking. When they were nearing the last houses of the town, Ben started feeling desperate, so he tried pulling Tom back; he even slapped him, hoping that this would wake him up, nothing worked, though; Tom kept walking, heading right into the woods. He started calling for help, wondering why no one had heard them yet, and kept on running, blocking Tom's way. They were already quite a way in the forest, when Ben, who was walking backwards, trying to push Tom back, tripped and fell, hitting his head. Now he was feeling dizzy, and his head was bleeding, but he still tried to go after Tom, which was becoming more and more difficult, due to the forest's increasing darkness and the blurred vision. He had to steady himself on trees and branches, to keep him from falling again. Soon, though, everything around him turned completely black and he collapsed right there, on the forest floor.

When Ben and Tom's mother entered their room the next day, she found bot their beds to be deserted. Stricken with panic, she ran through the house, calling them, waking Mina and the doctor, then ran over to the neighbours, asking them, whether they had seen anything. When they denied that they had seen any of her boys, she broke down crying. The doctor ordered Mina to make her a strong herbal tea, to calm her down and, after dressing himself, went to the sheriff to report the missing boys, who quickly put together a search-party, which the doctor joined, too.

Meanwhile the news of the two missing boys had spread through the town. Many people came by to visit the devastated mother; some bringing food, others words of sympathy, but everyone assured her that by tomorrow night the responsible witch would be burning. Between those visits she kneeled at the window, her head leaning against her folded hands, and prayed for the return of her boys. She did not eat any of the food the people had brought and drank nothing except for the herbal tea, which Mina had made her. Latter had started doing the household, figuring that she could calm herself best, when she had something to do. The boys were on her mind, too, though, and although she tried very hard, she could not keep the tears from falling. Both of them, especially Ben, had become like brothers to her, and their mother had taken care of her like her own child, even though she did not have to. Why did those terrible things always have to happen to the nicest people?


	7. Ben

It was going to be another sleepless night in the Weiser household. By twilight, Mina had finished the housework and made some food, of which she tried to coax a little into Mrs. Weiser, and now sat in front of the fire, her chin resting on her knees. She thought back on how she and the doctor first came into this house, how she had met and soon befriended Ben, who had become the little brother she never had and how Mrs Weiser had asked her to stay with her, if the boys stayed lost. She had agreed, as this woman had been so kind to her, treating her like a member of the family and not just like a simple maid or assistant.

Suddenly, the door was thrust open, making the woman and the girl jump to their feet, and the doctor entered, followed by another man, who carried a small figure in his arms – Ben. They put Ben on his bed, while Mina, who had read from the doctor's face that something was not right, hurried to get his bag. When she came back, Mrs Weiser was sitting at Ben's bed, holding his hand, while the doctor explained what had happened: They had been searching quite a part of the wood already, when they spotted something that looked like blood on a tree branch, so they checked the surrounding trees, in case there were more marks like this. And soon enough they found other branches. They followed the blood trail and discovered Ben, lying unconscious on the forest floor with a cut on his head. The doctor had checked for life signs, then they scooped him up and the doctor and the other man hurried back, while the remaining men would keep on searching for Tom, until it was too dark. Now the doctor was cleaning Ben's wound before he would close it with stitches. Mina had brought a clean bandage, which he wrapped around Ben's head after he had closed the wound. Then he ordered Mina to bring a bit of wine; for Ben, so he could produce new blood, and for his mother, because she had been under a lot of stress.

That night Mrs Weiser did not leave her younger son's side, she stayed awake, looking at Ben and casting worried glances at Tom's empty bed. Mina, who could not sleep either, had sneaked in quietly, in the hope of not being noticed and sent back to bed. After a few minutes, though, Mrs Weiser told her to come over and sit with her. She wrapped an arm around the girl and they stayed like this until dawn, when Ben opened his eyes.

Around midday the mayor, the sheriff, the doctor, Mrs Weiser and Mina had all gathered around Ben, so he could tell them what had happened. He admitted, with a bad conscience, that he had eavesdropped on his mother and the doctor, and that he was unable to sleep, because of what he had heard. When he had dozed off, he woke up, because someone was moving in the room and he saw that Tom was walking to the door and outside. He tried to keep him back, which did not work, he had called for help, but no one heard him, so he followed him into the forest, where he tripped and hit his head, but he still tried to follow Tom, when everything went black.

The reactions to this story were very different: Ben's mother had rested her head on a hand, blocking her face, and wrapped her other arm around Mina, who had tears rolling down her cheeks. The doctor stood behind them, looking thoughtful, each of his hands resting on one of their shoulders. The mayor and the sheriff exchanged meaningful glances, before they turned to Mrs Weiser, trying to reassure her that they might get the children back that night, when they went to burn the witch outside of town. The sheriff's niece was one of the missing children, so it was no question whether he was trying everything in his powers to get the children back and Mrs Weiser was at least a little bit more hopeful, when the mayor and sheriff left them.


	8. Guilty or Innocent?

At night, almost all adults went to kill the witch and bring the children back home. The doctor initially had planned to stay out of this, because he thought it was not right to harm or even kill someone without there being a proven reason. However, since Tom had gone missing, too, he and Mrs Weiser thought that it would be better if someone came along that knew him and could safely take him back home, if he indeed was there and alive. He also did not want to let Mrs Weiser go all alone and they both thought it would be a bad idea to leave Ben only with Mina to look after him, in case something happened. So, when the sky turned dark the doctor left and Mrs Weiser tried to occupy her mind with some needle work.

Ben, who was not supposed to leave his bed for at least a week, had asked Mina to look out of the window and tell him if she saw something interesting. She could not see very much though, only the route which the light took, that was emitted by the torches that the crowd had brought. When they were too far away, though, she could not even see that, so she just sat there and waited for something to happen. Neither Ben nor Mina talked very much during the time they waited, but they knew that they were thinking about the same thing: What if there were no children, because the woman had been innocent? What if they did find the children and they were all like Tom had been during the past days, for the rest of their lifes? Was the magic of a witch broken when she was killed? And what if they found the children but they were dead?

About three hours after Mina had lost sight of the crowd's light, the doctor returned. Mina had not seen him, as he had been carrying no light, but she heard someone enter the house and then a loud cry from Mrs Weiser. She exchanged a look with Ben and hurried to the door of the room, where she stopped abruptly. There on the floor lay Mrs Weiser, crying and sobbing uncontrollably, the doctor kneeling beside her, trying to comfort her. There was no Tom to be seen.

Mina went back to Ben, who only needed one look at her face to know that he would not see his brother that night. Although he tried to suppress them, the tears started coming. It was the same with Mina, who had resumed her seat at the window and now sat crying into her apron. They stayed like that, listening to the slowly ebbing sobs of Mrs Weiser, until Ben spoke up. "It is my fault, everything is my fault, I should have gone straight to my mother or any other adult, how could I be so stupid? If Tom stays lost, or is found somewhere, dead, that will be my fault. I should have followed him, why did I have to hit my stupid useless head and collapse? I am a man, I should be able to withstand this little bit of pain! I am such an idiotic weakling…" Mina went over to him, sat down at the side of his bed and took his hands into hers, before she answered: "You are not weak, Ben, really. The cut on your head is really bad; when they found you, they said that it was astounding that you were even able to walk this far, especially because you are still a child. And just imagine if you had been able to follow Tom, and he really went to a witch's lair, do you really think, the witch would have handed him back to you and let both of you go? She would have killed you both, and your mother would have lost both her children and would probably die from grieve. You are not weak, or stupid, and it is not your fault Tom is gone. It was very courageous of you to follow him into the dark forest, trying to hold him back, but if he really had been cursed, there is no way you or anyone could have managed that. No one believes that anything that happened was your fault, so you should not be so hard on yourself. I know you miss him and are worried, I am too, even though I do not really know him, but you will not get any better when you get all agitated, you will only make yourself really sick. The only thing you should worry about right now is to get well again." Looking at the floor she added, slightly mumbling: "I could not stand losing you, too, because, for me you are the little brother I never had", to which Ben replied that Mina was the best sister anyone could hope to have and that he hoped that she and the doctor would stay, even if Tom never came back home.


	9. Mother and children

It had been two months after Tom's disappearance and the killing of the supposed witch and her husband, but still there were no signs of the lost children. Several search-parties had skimmed the woods during daytime, but they never found anything. Everyone knew that the children probably were dead and that the witch that was really responsible for this was still alive and free, but the families of the children desperately held on to the last bit of hope they had.

Mrs Weiser, who had always been rather skinny, had lost a lot of weight out of sorrow and now spent most of the day lying in her bed, unable to do much. She barely ate anything and during the time she spent out of bed she was sitting in a chair at the window, as if she were expecting Tom to simply walk down the street.

Ben was feeling well again, but he no longer was the happy boy he had been before. There was so much weighing on his young mind: Tom and the other eleven missing children that probably were dead (he was quite sure about it), the feeling that his mother might not make it through the winter, all the innocent women that were burned, and his desire to kill all the evil witches regularly kept him awake. He had tried to occupy his mind by helping the doctor and Mina with their patients, but there was very little to do for him and he was not nearly as natural at this as Mina was. So, in order to earn at least a little bit of money and to have the feeling of not being completely useless, Ben started doing small jobs for the people in the city, like swiping the floor of some small shops, carrying groceries, or delivering messages. He did not earn much, but at least it gave him something to do. Of course he also looked after his mother, together with Mina and the doctor. Every night Ben would be found sitting at his mother's bedside, telling her about his day while he tried to coax some food and water into her. Sometimes he felt as though whatever had been wrong with Tom after the first time he had been gone had gone over to his mother. The only difference was that she would sometimes take Ben's face in her hands and start crying while she made him promise to stay safe, because he was the only thing she had left.

Then one day a strange story was spreading around town. Two orphaned children, brother and sister, had arrived. They claimed that they had been held captive by a witch in the forest for two months, but when she wanted to cook and eat the boy, the girl had managed to free herself and attacked the witch with a knife. Together they managed to push the witch into the fire of her oven, where she died. Since then they had been wandering through the forest until they finally made it to the town. Ben really wanted to meet them; persons who had actually escaped and killed a real witch! Unfortunately, Ben's mother had suddenly become very ill. Actually it only was a normal cold, but due to the fact that Mrs Weiser had not been in a good state before, her chances were bad. She now ate even less than before and could not even move out of bed. The doctor tried everything, but as his patient would not get better, he told Ben that his mother was very likely to die. To the doctor's astonishment, Ben did not react like other children would have done, when they heard about the very probable death of one of their parents: He did not cry at all, he only looked at the doctor, said that he had known that this had to happen sooner or later and asked whether he was allowed to sit with her until her time had come, which the doctor did not deny him.


	10. Realisation

Ben had decided that his mother should have as much comfort as he could give her during her last days. He took some of the money he had earned and went to the market to buy some of the things his mother had enjoyed, but rarely was able to afford: Apples, some nuts and a tiny bit of gingerbread. He would have brought her some flowers, but as they were nearing December, there were not many and those that were there were far too expensive for his few savings. However, every afternoon Ben would now slice up one apple, open up a few nuts and cut a small piece of gingerbread, which he would take to his mother's room. The first few times Ben had actually managed to coax some of the food into her, she had eaten the whole piece of gingerbread, the nuts and one half of the apple. She even seemed to smile slightly at Ben, although he might just have imagined this. The appetite for those delicacies did not last long though, and Mrs Weiser also started eating less of those, until she would not eat any of this food, either.

That was when Ben actually did start crying. Even though he had known it for a while, and the doctor telling him so had been no surprise, he now felt that he started to understand what it meant that his mother was dying, that she would be gone. There would be no more warm hugs from her, no scolding over torn clothes, no tending to scraped knees and elbows, no more good-night kisses and no gentle hand to stroke his head when he was ill. He would no longer sit on the chair at her bedside, telling her about his day, while he tried to make her eat something. She would be gone, and all that was left of her were some items and memories. There would be so many memories, but even the happy ones would turn sad, because the person they concerned was unreachable.

Ben did not realise that Mina had entered the room, so he jumped, when her hand touched his arm. She held a bowl of soup in her hand and smiled warmly at him. "I knew that this bothered you more than you would admit. It is okay to cry though; you should not keep everything in. If you want to talk about it to me, I would be happy to listen to you. But first you have to eat something." Ben wiped the tears off his face and wordlessly took the bowl Mina had offered him. "I never knew my mother, you know, or my father," Mina spoke up, looking at Ben, "but your mother was exactly what I imagined a mother to be. She was so nice to me; ever since we came here she treated me like her own daughter. It is really sad that she has to leave this world so early. And you… you are still so young, only 9 years old, and you have to cope with all those losses… First your brother, now your mother… This is just not fair…" Mina was interrupted by the noise of Ben's bowl hitting the wooden floor. Only seconds after that Ben ran out of the door. Mina wanted to go after him, but he already returned, followed by the doctor, who went straight to Mrs Weiser and checked first her breath, then her heartbeat. Apparently, he could not find either, because he started pressing her chest quickly with both of his hands, only stopping to listen. All the while Ben and Mina stood there, not knowing what to do. Mina had gone over to Ben and put an arm around him. She softy tried to get him to walk out of the room, but he would not be moved. He stared at his mother and the doctor, who was still pressing and listening, pressing and listening… After what felt like an eternity, the doctor stopped and closed Mrs Weiser's eyes.


	11. Fears and Solutions

The day of the funeral was cold, grey, and rainy, yet quite a lot of people attended it. Mrs Weiser had always been friendly and always helped wherever she could, so the number of people who had liked her, and now felt sad about her passing, was not small. After the service some of them, mainly neighbours, came over, bringing some food and something to drink, to sit together and remember the deceased. Ben knew that this was a custom, but he wished they would just go away and leave him alone. He had enough of the sad looks they were giving him all the time and of being told, what a poor, good and brave little boy he was, before they started ignoring him again – he, as a child was not a suitable conversational partner for an adult, after all, in their eyes.

When the guests were gone, Ben silently went up to his mother's room and sat down on the bed, thoughts swirling through his mind. What would become of him, now that he was alone? Would he be sent to an orphanage, where he would stay until he was old enough to start to work somewhere? Orphans had to take any position offered to them, and those were usually the lowliest paid and most dangerous jobs, that no parent wanted their child to take. If an orphan died, he or she would not be missed, maybe by one or two other children from the orphanage, but no one else would care. So, if he really went there, the probability of his survival was low and the life he would lead was far from enjoyable. After he had lost his mother and brother, he would lose everything else, too, all because of those stupid witches. Witches. It was all their fault: If they had not abducted – and very probably killed – his brother, his mother would not have become sick and would not have died yet, and he would not be sent to an orphanage, meaning that his life would probably end soon, too. Ben's sadness now made room for anger and hate towards those creatures. He remembered the two children that had been in town when his mother fell sick, they had escaped and killed a witch and were not much older than he was. They had been called to another town, though, to rescue another child, so he could not reach them now. He would have loved to talk to them, to ask them how exactly they killed that witch and whether they could teach him, too.

A knock on the door threw him out of his thoughts. When he answered, Mina came in and told him that the doctor would like to see him. When Ben entered his office, he was sitting at his desk, working on some document. He only looked up, to tell Ben to take a seat and wait a few seconds. While he waited, Ben looked around. The office was not very large and quite untidy. Books were lying nearly everywhere, medical instruments on top of them and the shelves were full of flasks and pots filled with herbs and liquids. There also was a slight smell of ether in the air, coming from a piece of cloth that lay on the table. Finally the doctor put away his feather and looked at Ben. "So, Benjamin, I know that the last few months have been very hard for you, but nevertheless this needs to be done, better earlier than later. You have no living relatives to look after you, but someone has to take care of you." Ben knew what was coming. His mother was not resting under the earth for a day and he, Ben, would be sent to an orphanage. He tried to hide his feelings, though, and kept looking at the doctor, who continued talking. "There would be the option of sending you to an orphanage, but as I have seen quite a lot of those, I know that no child should be sent there. Therefore, I would like to adopt you and send you to school, so – "Here the doctor was interrupted by Ben, who, in a rush of joy, had jumped from his chair and was now hugging the doctor. He let go as suddenly as he had hugged him, obviously shocked of the behaviour he had just displayed. He mumbled a short excuse and, flushing, returned to his seat. The doctor, who was quite amused by this small emotional outburst, now continued with a smile. "Well, it seems, as if you have no objections to this, so I will go and sign as your guardian tomorrow. Afterwards I will enrol you at school; you will be going there every day from next week on, and I expect you to work hard. You may go now." Ben assured the doctor that he would indeed work hard and thanked him, more formally this time, before he went out of the room.

He had just closed the door, when he was pulled into a hug. Mina had stood behind the door all the time, listening to every word that had been said and was now smiling as much as she had never done before. She looked as happy as Ben felt, now that they both knew that they would not lose the person they each had adopted as family.


	12. Better times

During the next few days Ben and Mina were very busy. Ben needed to get his school equipment and also some decent every-day clothes. The doctor had trusted Mina to go with Ben and do all the necessary shopping and even allowed them to get something nice for themselves. So after they had bought a few bottles of ink, some quills, a little book to write in, two pairs of trousers, and two new shirts, they strolled over the market, stopping at different stands and trying to decide what they wanted to spend their money on. In the end they settled for some sweet chestnuts, to warm them up on their way home.

They had quite a good time together, talking about the things that would come and how happy they were, that they were to stay together for now. Mina was just telling Ben about her plans to sew him a school bag, when she realised that he was not next to her anymore. She looked around and found him looking at a yellowish piece of paper that was stuck to a wall a few metres behind her. On her arrival she could see what it was: one of the last posters of the missing children, telling the people to pass any valuable information to the sheriff at once.

Ben had noticed the weathered poster out of the corner of his eye, but it had made his heart sink immediately. He was once more reminded of his brother and the other children that would probably never return to their families. Helplessness mixed with anger welled up inside him and he had to concentrate very much to hold the angry tears back. Only when he felt a small hand on his shoulder did Ben turn from the poster. Mina was standing next to him, looking at the poster with a sad expression before she also turned away and they continued their way back home.

The rest of the walk was not as cheerful as it had been before, as both, Ben and Mina, were lost in their thoughts. "Someday, when I am grown up, I will find those witches and kill them." Ben suddenly spoke up. "Don't be ridiculous Ben" replied Mina, "nobody can kill a witch. Although I would love to get rid of them, too." "You know that there are exactly two people, children even, who killed and escaped a witch. So it can be done, but I need to know how", countered Ben. Mina had already suspected that he would bring the topic of the siblings up. She had been quite fascinated by their story, too, but she had not seen them, either, she only felt a lot of pity for those poor children, who were just about her own age but already had to experience something so horrible.

The first day of school had finally arrived for Ben. He had been very excited and hardly able to sleep, scared that he might oversleep and be late on his first day. When he entered the kitchen, he found that Mina had already prepared the breakfast and even packed a little bit of lunch for him. After he had gorged down his porridge, Ben waited impatiently, checking again and again whether he had everything he needed, until it was finally time to go. He had to walk quite a while to get to the school, but he knew the way well and arrived early. Some other boys were already there, talking, playing and chasing each other around. None of them even seemed to notice Ben, and he was quite happy for that, as he suddenly felt very shy and self-conscious.

When the lessons started, Ben was introduced to his class by his teacher, Dr. Harmann. To his own astonishment, Ben had less difficulty following the lessons than he had feared, and he even managed to answer a question correctly, which made him at least a tiny bit surer of himself.

When the bell rang for the break, some of the boys came over to him and asked him whether he would like to join in their game of tag. Happy about the fact that he would not have to spend the break standing on his own, Ben accepted the invitation. He quickly learned, that he was not the only boy at school, who was send there by a benefactor, and found out, that one of the boys, Markus, was even living near him. When the day at school had ended, Ben had not only overcome the slight fear, that he would have a very hard time at school, but he had also found some friends.

From then on, Markus and Ben walked to and from school together everyday, did their homework together and played. Markus had lost a sibling to the witches, too, so he could understand why Ben wanted to kill them so badly. Although he said he could never bring up the courage to go near a witch, he spent hours helping Ben, who had decided that he wanted to try and find out as much as possible about the siblings and their work, searching through old newspapers, cutting relevant articles out and putting them into a large book. Mina helped them, when she had the time, mainly because she saw how much it meant to Ben, but also, because she realised how Markus started blushing and behaving ridiculously, when she was around, which amused her a little.

All in all, better times promised to come for Ben and his little family.


	13. Ten years later

It happened during the first days of spring. A father and his son were on their way back from sowing peas out in the fields, when they were attacked by a witch. She took the child with her and knocked the father out, when he tried to fight her. Of course, when the man returned home, no one really wanted to believe his story, as no one wanted to believe that the horrors were starting again. The man was taken into custody and questioned what he had done to his son. As he would neither admit that he had killed the boy, nor where the boy was now, he was sentenced to death by hanging.

There were only two people in all of Augsburg who at least partially believed that man. As soon as Ben and Mina heard about the boy that was lost, they started looking for clues, especially ones that shouted witch. Ben had collected a vast amount of material about witches, their practices and all of the articles about the two witch-hunters that he could get his hands on. The articles were all chronologically and neatly stuck into a book, an idea that he had got from his friend Markus, who now lived in another town, and Ben planned to show them to the siblings, if he should ever be lucky enough to meet them.

Ben and Mina still lived in their childhood house. After Ben had finished school, he had started to learn everything that was possible from the doctor, so he could continue his work, when the doctor was gone. Mina, who knew quite a bit more about medicine, helped him as much as she could without being suspicious. Although there were some rumours, the two of them never had any romantic feelings for each other. Ben had a crush on the female witch-hunter, Gretel, although he had never seen her. He had even painted a picture of her, which he put up in his room, and with which Mina teased him quite often. Mina said she was waiting for the right man to come along, but in reality there were no men that were interested in taking her as a wife. She was not ugly, her beauty was talked about by many men and even women, but they all did not want a wife that seemed to be intelligent – maybe even more intelligent than the men themselves. There even were rumours that she might be a half-witch, because of the touch of red in her hair, which made it strawberry-blonde, but as nothing had happened since the children were abducted ten years ago, those rumours seemed to prove wrong.

However, the case of the lost boy was not meant to be the only one. Two weeks after the hanging of the man, another boy did not return home after he was off, playing with some children. Then there was a girl, only two days later, who disappeared only a short way from home. After two more children had been abducted and everyone who had seen witnessed anything stated that there were witches involved, both the mayor and the sheriff started to get the uneasy feeling that the man had told the truth before. The guards were doubled, parents were advised not to leave their children unattended and every woman, especially the ones that were not married or lived alone, was observed by their neighbours. Those measures did not help very much, though; during the next two months there were four more children that were taken. Everything seemed to start again; there were innocent women, young and old, burning on the stake or drowned. The atmosphere was full of mistrust; it seemed as if everyone was followed by whispered rumours. Then one day the mayor announced that there was some hope in sight, as he had asked the two witch-hunters to come to Augsburg and get rid of the witch plague for them. The sheriff was not very happy about that, as he did not trust them. Those people, who had escaped witches almost unharmed, could mean nothing good. The opinion among the citizens was just as split: Some were happy that they were getting help; others rather feared that the witch-hunters could bring even more bad luck.

When Ben heard the news, he was almost ecstatic. Finally he would have the chance to meet his heroes! Maybe he could even help them defeat the witches and bring the children back? Maybe he could find out what had happened to his brother so many years ago? There was still one week to go, though, and he feared that a lot could happen until then.


	14. The Witch-Hunters

There were still two days to go until the witch-hunters were scheduled to arrive, when Mina came home, looking scared and slightly tousled, and locked the door behind her, before she sank down, crying. Ben, who had appeared in the room, hurried over to her and moved her to a chair. When he had made her a cup of strong tea, he kneeled in front of her, took her hands in his and tried to get her to tell what had happened. At first, she did not say anything, but when she had calmed down a little, she started to talk.

She had been to the market to get some food, when she encountered Sheriff Berringer, who started questioning her about what she was doing out there, all on her own, whether she did not know, that she looked quite suspicious. When he had finished his inquiry, she started the way home, when she suddenly, in a small alley, was shoved against a wall by someone. It was no other than Berringer, who had followed her. He came close and hissed into her ear that he knew that she was innocent; but that he could make the people believe that she was the one who had brought all of those bad things over Augsburg. Of course he would reconsider it, if she behaved well. Mina knew, what the sheriff had in mind, and she also knew that the people would most gladly believe that she was the culprit, now that another child had gone missing, only two days ago. On the other hand, she knew that the sheriff, unlike the mayor, was not a noble man, in fact, he was just as bad as any drunkard, when it came to the treatment of women, and she feared that even if she did what he wanted, he would still bring her to the stake. She told him that she was not scared of him and that she would never do what he wanted. That infuriated Berringer, and he hit her head on the wall, before he came even closer, starting to grab and touch her everywhere. At that point Mina's self-preservation kicked in, and she pushed the sheriff away, with a strength that she did not believe she had, before she rammed her knee right between his legs. She used the moment in which he was diverted and ran as fast as she could, always throwing glances behind her.

When Ben had heard this story, he was so angry, he could have marched up to the sheriff and killed him with his bare hands. It was only due to Mina's pleas that he stayed there with her. All evening they talked about what to do next, before they developed a plan. They would leave at midnight and take as many small streets as possible. If there was someone asking where they went, they would go to a family living outside of town, which had sent for them. They were still packing the last things, when the front door burst open and the sheriff entered with four of his men. Two of them grabbed Mina by the arms and the other two held Ben down, who had tried to attack the men holding Mina. When he would not stay still, one of them hit the handle of his gun over Ben's head. Although everything was blurred now, Ben could see Mina's arms reaching out for him, as she was dragged away by the sheriff's men. Ben wanted to yell after her that he would find a way to get her out of there, but he felt too dizzy to speak.

The next morning, Ben woke up with a huge headache. His body did not feel much better, as he had been lying on the floor all night, but at least his vision had returned to normal again. Slowly, the events of the night came back to him. They had wanted to leave, but Mina had been taken prisoner by the sheriff. Suddenly Ben was wide awake. He had promised Mina to protect her from that monster of a sheriff, and he would, or his name was not Benjamin Weiser.

In front of the local court, a huge crowd had gathered. Ben, who, in his desire to help Mina, had forgotten to have breakfast, quickly grabbed a bottle of milk from the milkman's stand and made his way to the front row of the crowd. Sure enough, there was Mina, and she was still alive. He did not know, whether she could see him, and it would have been quite stupid to call her, so he had to develop the rescue plan by himself. He concentrated as well as he could, and tried to block the noise of Mina's head being held underwater, but he simply found nothing he could do, which did not involve getting both of them killed. He was almost despairing, when the crowd suddenly gasped. Fearing, that Mina had died, he looked up, just to see a dark-haired woman holding a huge gun against the sheriff's head, and telling him to let the woman go, or she would shoot him. When he looked on, he saw that the sheriff's men were kept in check by another man. Ben knew, who the two of them were, before the woman introduced them: Hansel and Gretel, the witch-hunters. His heroes had finally arrived, so, everything would turn out good now, right?


End file.
